I had a visitor yesterday. He looked me squarely
in the eye with his triangle face, his little beadies
popping out; his gentle delicate hands were clasped
and he stayed perfectly still, not at all scared of me,
this mighty towering human with feet big enough to stomp
him out! Oh no, he knew me, yes, I knew he knew me,
and he just gazed at me and posed, his entire being in a
frozen dance, this chance meeting with me, his circumstance,
his very will to be somehow attached to me and it was as if
he said, though without speaking, "I am here for you," and
I believed him, this posed dancer, this dance is ours,
dear mantis, this dance is ours! And for a moment I felt
love again, true and pure, the way you have to accept when
there's nothing else you can do but accept it because it was
so very powerful, so true, and I knew he knew just like I knew
that he was here for me to show me it could happen again,
just like the time when it happened before, only newer, better,
more powerful, more lasting, and so today, after I saw him pray
for me the way he prayed for me there, his most engaging stare
directed to me and me alone, today I fasted, bowed my head the
way I can only bow after I've been clearly endowed with a promise,
and then I walked for several miles and swam for another, sure
I would find a brother or a lover on the other side of this omen,
but he has not appeared yet, though his advances are felt,
his mantis known, this lone creature, my portend, my forecast,
my shadow predictor, green with envy because he knows that
he is not a toad who can be kissed to become my prince, no, he
is my augur, my hope, my honest homecoming.....
as luck would have it.
